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US 6,094,980 AGranted
Torsion spring tester
AssigneeLarson Systems Inc.
InventorsDavid A. Larson, William R. Dixon, Jr.
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A torsion spring tester incorporates a microprocessor based data acquisition/control package and special tooling. The tooling makes calibration of the tester very easy. The combination of the tooling and control package permits acquisition, storage and transfer of test data that is accurate, absolute and repeatable.
Claims19
A torsion spring tester comprising:
- (a) a carriage;
- (b) a first housing mounted to said carriage;
- (c) a second housing slidably mounted to said carriage;
- (d) a load cell located within one of said housings to generate signals representative of torque;
- (e) a first tooling member coupled to the housing in which the load cell is located, said tooling member including a first blank and a first engagement member projecting from said first blank, said tooling member being mounted so that loads applied to the engagement member are sensed by the load cell;
- (f) a second tooling member coupled to the other of said housings, said second tooling member including a second blank and a second engagement member projecting from the second blank;
- (g) a mandrel projecting from the center of one of said first and second blanks;
- (h) an encoder located within one of said first and second housings and coupled to the electronics package to generate signals representative of angular deflection of said first tooling member and said second tooling member as one of said first and second tooling members is rotated;
- and
- (i) an electronics package for controlling the output of test data, the electronics package coupled to the encoder to receive signals representative of angular deflection and coupled to the load cell to receive signals representative of torque, wherein said electronics package compensates for a deflection of said first tooling member during testing.
7 more elements
A torsion tester, comprising:
- (a) a load cell to generate signals representative of torque;
- (b) a first tooling member configured to engage a test object and coupled to the load cell, wherein loads applied to the first tooling member are sensed by the load cell;
- (c) a second tooling member configured to engage the test object;
- (d) an encoder for generating signals representative of the angular deflection between said first tooling member and said second tooling member as one of said first and second tooling members is rotated to create an angular deflection in the test object;
- and
- (e) an electronics package coupled to the encoder to receive signals representative of the angular deflection and coupled to the load cell to receive signals representative of the torque, wherein the electronics package compensates for a deflection of said first tooling member as the load is transferred to the load cell.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.